Partha Chatterjee Meet College Representatives Over Question Paper Goof Up

Kolkata:The three-member inquiry committee headed by the registrar of Calcutta University Rajagopal Dhar Chakraborti, visited Sammilani Mahavidyalaya at Baghajatin on Friday to start investigating into the alleged leak of the political science question papers on Thursday.

Speaking at the Association of Professional Academic Institutions (APAI) programme, education minister Partha Chatterjee said the government is keeping a watch on the incidents and said a thorough inquiry was on. “I have met with the governing body members of Sammilani Mahavidyalaya. We will have to find out if this was an accident or a ploy to malign the government. We also need to find out if it was intentionally done by a section of the teachers. It is unthinkable that qualified teachers do not realize they have opened the wrong bunch of question papers when clear instructions are written on them,” said Chatterjee. He pointed out that complaints were also received about question papers being leaked over social media.

According to sources, the inquiry team members met teachers, held meetings with in vigilators and spoke with the suspended principal. The panel is expected to submit a report to the higher education department within next week.

“Inquiry committee members have been asked to fix responsibilities and reconstruct a timeline,” said a source, adding: “If necessary the committee may make subsequent visits to the college after holding meetings over the preliminary findings.”

Calcutta University authorities, however, feel there is little opportunity to penalise those found guilty of violating the prescribed methods set by the varsity. “These incidents reflect callousness. Even if the committee can fix responsibilities behind the lapse, CU can only make recommendations to the governing board of the college,” said a CU official.

One exam goof-up is bad enough, two in less than a week call for a detailed post-mortem examination and implementation of fool-proof measures that will ensure this is not repeated.One person’s “human error” forcing a re-exam on thousands of students is not fair.